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Good to Be Governor?

4 July 2009 3 Comments

So here’s a tale of two governors who both happen to be — or happen to have been — “shining stars” in the GOP.

One, caught in a scandal, admits to moral wrongdoing, is urged to resign by members of both parties, but refuses to do so because he wants to refocus on state business.

The other, not caught in a scandal, but rumored to be inches away from being caught up in a possible one, suddenly announces her resignation with so little notice that only a few reporters have a chance to get to her impromptu press conference.

Which one do you think has the best chance of a political future? I can’t see South Carolina’s Mark Sanford running for the White House after the bombshells he’s dropped on his state. But oddly enough, I think he’s actually got a better chance now than Alaska’s Sarah Palin, who abruptly decided to quit without a clear explanation of why.

After all, if you can set aside Sanford’s moral failures — the ones he seemed to want the rest of us never to set aside when they bit a Democrat on the butt — he at least, so far, has committed to finishing out his term, no matter how many people want him out.

Palin, on the other hand, isn’t completing the term she was elected to serve. And what she said at her press conference, along with what she didn’t say, seems a little too vague.

If you were a voter, which would concern you more?

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Carly said:

Hi Patrick

My vote goes to Governor Sanford. Heres why. He admitted what he did, even if it took several press conferences to do so. It couldn’t have been easy to do that. And not that it’s ok, because it really isn’t, but he made an all too human mistake that many, many politicians have made. An affair. It has long been my opinion that when I vote, I am not voting for my moral leader, I am voting for a politician. If a political sex scandal is a big shock by now, well, perhaps it’s time to take sex out of politics. A cheating human is not a new thing. He has been cleared in the sense that he didn’t use state funds to visit his mistress, therefore he did put the people of his state ahead of things in some respects. Not everyone has done that. He behavior is between he and his wife. He didn’t cheat on anyone but her. One thing though… he might be more responsible in the future about when he leaves the state, and I expect he will. Time for that Christian forgiveness.

Now about Governor Palin…

She was elected to offiice with the expectation of her serving at least one term. She is now taking that and throwing it away. No clear explanation tells me that she either has some new secret about to emerge, or that she is putting her political future first. Her speech seemed really weird. Her reasoning made no sense at all. I think that if she stepped down for political reasons, as in she wants time to run for higher office, she may have just caused herself a lot of problems. After all, who would vote for a candidate so selfish that she would ditch her own state in order to further herself politically?

-Carly
PS Have a good week!

# 4 July 2009 at 1:37 pm

Jeff Tompkins said:

I’d be far more concerned about voting for someone who was a proven quitter, especially when the quitter’s reasons are so ridiculous.

Resigning to avoid being a lame duck? What’s that all about? She said that her decision not to seek reelection precipitated the decision to resign. But that begs the question: why now? She didn’t have to announce the decision to not run again this soon. She could have remained governor until such time as she would be expected to announce the decision (sometime next year), and then announce the resignation. It just makes no sense.

Her assertion that people were attacking her son, Trig? Sorry, didn’t happen. That was designed to elicit sympathy from people who would believe that it actually happened.

Leaving because of all the allegations of wrong-doing? Welcome to politics! If everyone who was accused of any wrong-doing responded by resigning, well, imagine the damage to our system. Plus, she even pointed out that all the allegations up to this point have been dismissed. So, doesn’t that work in her favor? Why quit?

I hope this resignation puts an end to her political career, and not just because I disagree with her on the issues, but rather because she’s proven herself to be erratic and totally unprepared for the big stage. (Some of us already knew that, though.)

# 4 July 2009 at 2:22 pm

Cat. said:

In the midst of the Lewinsky busy-ness a decade or so ago, I repeatedly said that any kind of situation like was alleged (and then admitted) to have occurred has, as far as I’m concerned NOTHING to do with running a country. Or a state. It’s a failure in judgment, sure, but since virtually every president (and quite likely a similar percentage of governors) has fooled around while in office, it can’t really be an impeachable offense. It’s a very sad situation that should be handled by the people involved, NOT by the press, the courts, or nosy, barking idiots!

And I stand by this in Sanford’s case, because it doesn’t matter whether he’s a Dem or a Rep, he is still a fool who hurt his wife and kids more than he hurt me.

(Having said that, I tend to agree with your assessment that leaving the state without deputizing anyone to act, if needed, in his absence makes me a little concerned about what part of his body is doing the thinking.)

# 4 July 2009 at 3:19 pm